


Plastic

by GuineapigQueen



Series: 300 Followers Requests [2]
Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, Mermaids, creek is light and implied ok don't come for me, science craig, talk of ocean pollution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-10-28 15:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20780495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuineapigQueen/pseuds/GuineapigQueen
Summary: Craig would never, ever hurt the sea life himself but if it’s already dead he’s keen to experiment. The more he experiments though the more he sees the same things. Plastic. Everywhere, killing these animals from the inside. It’s awful and Craig wishes he could put up a big sign saying DON’T EAT THAT! So Craig will pick up any trash he finds on these walks too. He knows he can’t possibly hope to clean the entire expanse of the sea but surely his little bit helps? He can only try.





	Plastic

**Author's Note:**

> A request from the lovely Ronnie: "I’m sorry if I’m being vague but... Something with creek and mermaid(s)? I love me any kind of mermaid au (specially with a little bit of a dark background, like the mermaid character being an experiment for example.)" 
> 
> I hope I delivered, I've never really written anything more fantasy focused so hopefully it's what you wanted :)

It's not a nice day to be at the beach but Craig is here anyway. It's overcast and windy but those days are the best in Craig's mind. The best stuff washes up when the weather is rough. 

Craig isn't really a beach bunny in the sense that he's always in the water or surfing or something. He's at the beach almost every day but he doesn't swim. He's been obsessed with coming down here ever since he was six. He was here with his family and he'd just caught a glimpse of this tail, glinting in the summer sun. Ever since then he's wanted to know what it was.

Craig's belief in mermaids and trying to find  _ his  _ mermaid had kind of dulled over the years. Logic took over as he grew older, it was probably just a child wanting to see something extraordinary. But his penchant for finding things at the beach hasn't quelled. Real life things like funny shells or interesting dead animals. Maybe it's gross but the scientist in Craig loves to come out and see what weird stuff the ocean has to offer. 

He thinks he can probably find a scientific explanation for his mermaid too. Maybe a weird fish nobody else has discovered yet? Maybe something totally new and undiscovered that Craig's earthly brain can't even imagine. At least maybe one day, when he's got a degree in marine biology, he can come back here and discover something great. But for now he's stuck collecting oddities and wondering.

The rock pools are also a great place to find weird shit. He doesn't take living things from there but he takes pictures. He braves it even though it's the wrong tide and the rough spray is exploding over. 

His friends think he’s weird. Who comes to the beach and doesn’t go swimming or surfing? Craig doesn’t even sunbathe, he just trawls for weird oddities to collect. His friends don’t accompany him on these fact finding missions because to them, its gross. Craig isn’t collecting cute shells (well, okay sometimes he will) he’s usually seeing if anything dead has washed up. Craig would never, ever hurt the sea life himself but if it’s already dead he’s keen to experiment. The more he experiments though the more he sees the same things. Plastic. Everywhere, killing these animals from the inside. It’s awful and Craig wishes he could put up a big sign saying DON’T EAT THAT! So Craig will pick up any trash he finds on these walks too. He knows he can’t possibly hope to clean the entire expanse of the sea but surely his little bit helps? He can only try. 

He hasn’t really found anything worth photographing or collecting so he’s about to give up and head home. He takes one last trudge over the rocks before the storm turns and looks out onto the horizon. It’s foggy and grey, dismal to anyone else but Craig likes the sea no matter the weather. He likes all forms it comes in, he likes the spray, the salt, the mist, whether it’s clear blue or murky grey. Any oceanscape is beautiful to Craig. 

His musings and connection to nature is interrupted by a strangled moan coming from below him. Craig peeks over the ledge of the rocks cautiously, almost sure he is hearing things. He can’t see anything, just wet rocks and the sound of the waves repeatedly hitting them. He’s about to turn and leave, and chalk it up to spending too much time alone when he sees it.

The glint of a tail, iridescent scales shining in the dull light. Like a mother of pearl shell tucked away in a rockpool. It’s enough to make Craig take a leap of faith off the rock he’s perched on and down onto the more dangerous, lower, closer to the sea layer of rocks. If he’s quick he can check out whatever has caught his eye, find a scientific explanation for it and then hop back up before the tide fills this area up. 

He hears another pitiful groan, just, over the sound of the waves. He follows it to a small cavern. It’s a place he’s never actually seen before, which is weird because Craig thought he’d well and truly combed this beach at low tide. He clambers in anyway being careful to watch where the water is at, knowing high tide could take him any time now. 

Craig doesn’t know what he was expecting to find but this wasn’t it. He’d thought maybe the sound was some trick of air escaping or something, maybe the glinting tail a dead fish but he’s shocked to find the thing of his six-year-old dreams. A mermaid. Merman? Craig doesn’t know if mermaids have gender, but the creature looks male. His top half not dissimilar to Craig’s own build, blonde hair atop his head and pained blue eyes. But his bottom half is most certainly not like Craig’s own, there’s scales, a tail… just like he’d imagined as a child. The creature doesn’t acknowledge him, they’re slumped over a rock and moaning in pain. 

Craig isn’t sure what he should do but he knows he has to do  _ something  _ so he approaches the creature slowly. Making sure that he is in within eye shot. 

“Are… are you okay?” He asks, he feels a little stupid asking it. He has no idea what language mermaids speak. Maybe they speak fish? How should Craig know.

“Go away” 

Okay, so they can communicate. Good. He makes a mental scientific note for later. 

“I’m not gonna hurt you, it’s just… you don’t look well… at all” Craig comments, edging a little closer. The creature makes no move to attack, either too weak or just disinterested.

“M-my stomach” they moan, before recoiling a little again.

“Did you eat something bad?” Craig asks.

The thing answers him by puking all over the sand, the puke is mostly watery except for a few distinct pieces of… plastic. Yikes, Craig tries his best not to panic, he’s seen a lot of dead sea life with bellies full of plastic but never something still alive. And never something he could actually communicate with. 

“This stuff” Craig says, pointing to a hunk of plastic mixed with mermaid throw up (he tries his best not to be too grossed out, the scientist in his has an iron stomach) “did you eat that stuff?”

“Yeah” the mermaid replies, sounding confused “am I  _ -nnn-  _ not supposed to?”

“Definitely not, it’s not food. How much did you eat?” He asks.

“I thought it was good because I could  _ -nghh-  _ catch it easy… it didn’t run away” they say weakly “a lot I guess.”

“Shit” Craig has to think on his feet. What would he do here if this was any other sea animal… he’d take them to the vet? He clearly can't do that here, but he has to do  _ something.  _ There’s really only one person he can think of who might know what to do, and even then, Craig has to make sure he doesn’t try to cut this creature up and experiment on them. He goes to pick up them up, bridal style. The creature groans but is too weak to really resist.

“I know a guy who might be able to help you” Craig promises, hoping it isn’t in vain. 

—

There’s a bigger weirdo in town than Craig. It’s Dr. Mephesto, the crackpot scientist who lives in his own makeshift laboratory up on the hill. Craig sometimes went there as a kid, seeing as Mephesto is the only other person he knows who believes in mermaids. 

He manages to get the mermaid into his car without anybody seeing. He grabs a blanket from the back to cover up the tail. Craig doesn't try to make conversation as he can tell the creature is in too much pain. Instead he just concentrates on driving. He still remembers the way from all the times he came up here as a child. After a day at the beach collecting things, if he found anything noteworthy he'd bring it to Mephesto. Mephesto was the only person who took him seriously, his pursuit of science and his pursuit of discovery. As he got older he went less, especially since Mephesto was still on about mermaids and Craig thought he'd grown out of that fantasy. 

Well, the groaning, half-dead mermaid in his passenger seat begs to differ.

Mephesto lets them in as soon as he realises it's Craig. No matter what he's always had a place for him even if Craig has grown up and become more independent. 

Craig carries the mermaid through the old house. It's dark and primarily concrete, looking more like a hospital or warehouse than a cosy home. It's always been more laboratory than house. Craig is used to it, he can't imagine how Mephesto's kids handled it though. 

"Craig!" Mephesto exclaims when Craig reaches him "it's been a long time."

"It has" Craig agrees, "I really need your help."

The creature groans in Craig's arms.

"Who's this?" Mephesto asks "I'll help with whatever you need."

"This is uh… do you have a name?" Craig asks the creature.

"Tweek" it moans in reply.

"Uh, Tweek. Tweek is a mermaid, like for real" Craig tries to explain. 

"You're joking?" Mephesto asks, clearly not believing Craig's claim. 

"I'm not, but he's sick… he's got a belly full of plastic. You're the only person I can think of who might be able to help?" Craig rambles, desperate. 

Mephesto pulls off the blanket around Tweek's bottom half to reveal his tail. All blue-green and glittering under the laboratory lights. Mephesto's eyes go wide.

"Incredible" he breathes in astonishment. 

"I know but we don't have much time, he's in pain… we gotta help!" Craig urges. 

"We're going to have to do an x-ray. I have no idea what kind of anatomy I'm working with" Mephesto explains. Craig understands, but he has one more condition. 

"Okay just… promise me you won't turn him into an experiment. We're making him better and then he gets to go back in the water" Craig says. 

"Deal, I'll do whatever I can. But let's get him inside the x-ray" Mephesto replies. Craig can only follow him hurriedly as they walk towards another large room. Craig assumes this is where the x-ray equipment is. 

Craig lays Tweek down on a table, Tweek is too weak to fight him. Craig can see, now that Tweek is on his back that his belly looks quite bloated and distended. Whatever plastic that's in there must  _ hurt.  _ Craig looks to Mephesto for the next step. 

"You'll need to lay still" Mephesto instructs Tweek.

"If we get a good picture of your belly we'll know how to help you better" Craig tries to explain. 

"You'll make it stop?" Tweek asks, the first real words he's said since they've gotten here besides his name. 

"Yeah, we'll do everything we can" Craig promises. 

Tweek nods in approval "okay I'll stay still."

Craig and Mephesto place the lead apron on Tweek and then head to another room. They just have to take Tweek's word and hope he stays still to get an accurate picture. 

Once the machine has beeped and it is safe to do so they help Tweel into a small tank. Mephesto just happens to have one, Craig isn't really surprised by all the weird things in his home anymore. 

"His anatomy isn't too different from ours" Mephesto says, holding Tweek's x-ray up to the light "his top half anyway, and his respiratory system is different but his digestive system looks similar. You can see the pieces of plastic here obstructing his intestines. I think I can operate on him to remove the plastic."

"Ok" Craig replies, he doesn't understand much on the x-ray so he takes Mephesto's word for it "we should probably operate now, I think he's dying."

Mephesto nods solemnly "I'll prep the lab now."

Tweek is put to sleep. The anaesthetic was a bit of a guess but Craig supposes it was an educated one on Mephesto's part because it worked. Craig observes the operation, his scientific side getting the better of him. But this isn't like dissecting something that's dead. This is a real, sentient being and Craig is emotionally invested. He may not really know Tweek at all but he desperately wants him to survive. 

The operation takes a few hours and once Tweek is stitched up they worry about how long he has been out of water. They don't know how his respiratory system works so they're afraid to put him back in the tank before he's awake and alert. So they just keep pouring buckets of water over him until he comes to. 

When Tweek does wake he's in pain and groggy but he's alive! Craig is overjoyed that their experimental surgery has been a success so far. Tweek mumbles that he feels better than before and that he wants to go back in the tank. So they oblige and Mephesto offers him some painkillers, Craig doesn't ask where he got them. 

Tweek probably needs a few days to recover and Craig really needs to get home to his mom. So he begrudgingly leaves, promising to return tomorrow. He doesn't sleep well though, thinking of Tweek the entire time and hoping he did the right thing trusting Mephesto. 

—

Craig heads back to Mephesto's place straight away. He basically inhales his breakfast and just speeds straight over. He's relieved that Mephesto lets him in, he doesn't think Mephesto would let him back if he was doing some kind of illegal, inhumane experiments on Tweek. 

Tweek is bobbing in his tank. The tank is clearly too small but its temporary and the best that they've got in this situation. He looks brighter though, there's colour in his cheeks and he smiles when he sees Craig.

"Hello" he says.

"Hi" Craig grins "how are you feeling?"

" _ So  _ much better" he replies happily "my stomach doesn't hurt like it  _ -hnn-  _ did before and I was actually hungry for food this morning."

"Great!" Craig says "what do you eat?"

"Um, anything…" Tweek glances down at the scar on his stomach "I guess maybe not  _ -gah-  _ anything… like, fish, plants, whatever I can catch."

"Luckily for him I have lots of living specimens that eat fish, so I didn't have trouble finding him something to eat" Mephesto explains. 

Craig finds it a little weird that Tweek eats fish, seeing as he kind of looks like he evolved from one. But he supposes Tweek is a predator and that's how nature works, brutally. 

"Well I'm glad you're feeling better… when do you think you want to go back?" He asks.

"Uh, maybe a few days? Is that okay?" Tweek turns to ask Mephesto. 

"Sure, I'm just happy I can observe your species" Mephesto says happily.

"Me too" Tweek replies "you're interesting… I realised I don't know your  _ -ah- _ name?" He asks Craig.

"I'm Craig, if I didn't introduce myself I'm sorry. I was rushing to get you here" Craig replies. 

"I don't remember much anyway, so for all I know you could've. Craig is a weird name, I've never  _ -ah-  _ heard it before" Tweek says, amused.

"I've never heard Tweek as a name before" Craig retorts with a smile.

"Huh, interesting. So… can you guys explain what made me  _ -nnn- _ sick? So I don't do it again?" Tweek asks. This is the opportunity Craig has always wanted but never gotten. A creature sentient enough that he can tell them eating trash is harmful. Someone intelligent enough to understand it. 

"Well I'll show you more when we go back to the beach but you ate a bunch of stuff called plastic… and you can't eat that" Craig tries his best to explain. 

"What is it?" Tweek asks curiously. 

"It's uh, well, if I'm honest, it's trash. It shouldn't be in the ocean" Craig explains. 

"Why is it  _ -nnn-  _ in there then?" Tweek asks again, and shit he's so inquisitive. Craig doesn't wanna lie to him.

"Because humans suck Tweek. People suck, I'm trying to clean up trash when I head down there but I'm only one guy" Craig explains defeatedly.

"Oh, well… thanks for helping me I  _ -ah-  _ guess" Tweek replies, a little deflated. Clearly sensing the mood change.

"It's okay, I just wish I could do more about the plastic" Craig says sadly.

"It's been a pleasure helping you, Tweek" Mephesto adds with a small smile.

"Well one guy cleaning up is better than  _ -nghh-  _ no guys, right? Maybe some more people will join in?" Tweek suggests. Craig loves the optimism, it's a little contagious. 

"I really, really hope so" he replies. 

—

"You need to promise me you won't eat anymore of this stuff" Craig says to Tweek sternly "if it tastes like nothing with that weird texture? Do not eat it. If it doesn't run away from you? Don't eat it. Okay?" Craig explains. 

Tweek is well enough to go back to the ocean. Tweek said his goodbyes to Mephesto at the lab so that he and Craig could have a little farewell moment in quiet.

"Sure" Tweek replies, nodding "I don't wanna  _ -gah-  _ go through that pain again. Though this thing is cool" he points to his scar.

"That's your reminder not to eat this stuff again" Craig reprimands.

"Yeah, I can't wait to show everyone at home! Nobody has one  _ -hnn-  _ neat across their belly like this!" Tweek says excitedly. 

"Okay, but just remember what I told you, yeah?" Craig urges. 

"Um, stay away from people?" Tweek repeats with a small shrug.

"Yeah, if you can. I think it's better if they don't know about your people. They may not be as nice as I was if they find you" Craig explains again sadly. He'd love to proclaim his discovery, but the way the world is today, it feels wrong. Craig can't control the people with bad intentions. The people who just wanna make money, people who wanna experiment on him, people who wanna eat him or even just people who don't care about his safety or comfort. Craig doesn't want Tweek anywhere near those people. 

"I'll  _ -hnn-  _ miss you though" Tweek admits shyly.

"Well, I'm always at the beach. Maybe on a rainy day, we could meet again. In that little cave?" Craig suggests, he's not ready to say goodbye either. 

"I'd like that" Tweek says with a cheeky smile, pulling himself up out of the water a little so that he can give Craig a light kiss on his lips. Craig feels his heart hammer in his chest,  _ so mermaids kiss too.  _

He's probably the first human to be kissed by a mermaid. He thinks he might die. 

"Thank you for saving me" Tweek says when they part before wrapping his arms around Craig and hugging tight "look for me on a  _ -nnn-  _ rainy day."

"I will" Craig replies "I promise."

Tweek smiles sadly before letting go, giving Craig a small wave and diving back into the depths.

He's gone.

Craig already feels empty, but he knows he did the right thing. Tweek is where he belongs.

—

Many rainy days go by but Craig never manages to catch Tweek. He has come to the conclusion that they're probably never going to meet again. Maybe it's for the best, Tweek will live a much better life without human intervention and Craig wants him to live a long, happy life. He just continues his routine as normal. Look for weird things that might wash up, take pictures of rockpools and explore the area. 

It's only on a very cloudy, stormy day this changes. Craig is combing the rockpools, braving the weather. He always comes to the cave, just in case. Today he sticks his head in, not expecting anything but instead he sees a glimmer of blue-green flashing. His heart leaps into his mouth. 

"Tweek?" He calls.

Silence and his heartbeat echoing in his ears. He sighs, turning away and getting ready to get his stuff and go home when…

"Craig?" 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is blesspastacraig if you wanna be friends :)


End file.
